The Last Stop Before Dodge
by SingerMe
Summary: This is a response to a fiction challenge featuring Kitty. The prompts were, drama, an old broach and a stage stop. I think I got all of that in there. The setting is right before Kitty lands in Dodge for the first time.


Last Stop Before Dodge

I don't own these characters. I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.

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Kitty sat stiffly on the hard bench seat of the stagecoach, trying not fall off or into the man seated next to her. She was exhausted but she dare not fall asleep. Of the other two passengers, the one next to her, although he'd not tried anything, looked none too trustworthy. The one across from her looked okay but she'd learned the hard way to not trust on looks alone.

Of course, if she was to fall asleep and one of them took her belongings, they'd be sorely disappointed. She had a grand sum of $40, which was securely stowed in her bodice and an old broach that had belonged to her mother. It held no value save the sweet memories it invoked. The rest of her belongings included one sequined dress and a pair of scuffed high heels and a glass bead necklace, worth less than the cameo pinned to her blouse. She doubted these men would have much use for such as that, but she still wasn't taking chances.

"Whoa, there!" She heard Ethan White, the stage driver, yell.

"Looks like we're coming into the last stop before Dodge." The man across from her drawled in a soft twang. "I'll sure be glad to get out a this thang."

The other man, a dude by the look of him, stared at the cowboy with the drooping handlebar mustache for a second but said nothing as the stage came to a halt outside of a two story farmhouse with a wide front porch.

"Last stop before Dodge, Folks." The driver opened the door. "Won't stop again for the next twenty miles. If you want to stretch your legs, you best do it now."

"They got time." A balding, middle-aged man scrubbed his chin as he stepped up next to the driver. "One of your wheels is cracked."

"What?" Ethan, tall, gray haired and gruff, frowned as he leaned down to inspect the wheel the man had pointed to. "Damn!" He exclaimed as he stood up. "Sure am glad it held up til we got here but still…" He shook his head, took his tan hat off and angrily slapped his dusty thigh with it. "Damn it. By the time I get this fixed and back on the road…"

"Yeah, I know." The man, who had to be the stage master, nodded. "You most likely won't get into Dodge afore tomorrow morning. Guess you all could stay the night here. Get a fresh start in the morning. We got room and…"

"No." Ethan shook his head. "I thank you, Handy, but I'm already running a little late. I best get this fixed as quick as I can and then get us back on the road. Folks." He looked back in at the passengers who hadn't moved to get down as of yet. "Looks like we'll be more than a few minutes. You all come on out of there and go on in the house." He looked back at Handy. "Your wife got some vittles fixed?"

"Yeah," Handy nodded. "You all just go on in. My wife and daughter will see to ya."

Kitty started to rise from her seat but the dude next to her rose first, practically knocking her down as he left the stage and headed to the house. Kitty arched a brow at him but kept her temper as she rose from her seat and moved to step out.

"Here, Ma'am." The mustachioed cowboy said as he quickly swung to the ground and then held up a hand to help her out.

"Thank you." Kitty offered him a smile.

"Yes, Ma'am." He nodded in return. "I guess that other feller was in a big hurry to be so rude."

"Well," Kitty shook her head. "He was something."

Stepping to the side, the cowboy gestured for Kitty to go first as he followed her to the house. "My names Doy." He smiled down at her.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Doy." Kitty wasn't sure she wanted to give up her own identity just yet.

"Oh, no, Ma'am." He quickly moved up next to her. "Doy's my first name. My last name's Lane, only I didn't much care fer my pa so I don't use his name much. My ma gave me my first name."

"I see." Kitty answered, a little amused at his long-winded tale. "Well, my names Kitty Russell. And I use both of my names."

"Yes, Ma'am." He grinned as they reached the door of the house and he opened it for her.

Upon entering the house, a smell of something burnt or worse greeted them as though to warn them off. Kitty and Doy exchanged glances of disgust as they wrinkled their noses at the stench.

"You're just in time." A plain looking woman in a stained apron waved at them as she pushed a strand of graying brunette hair out of her face. "Stews about done."

"Um, I'll just have some coffee, if you don't mind." Kitty answered. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get past the smell to actually taste the concoction the woman was creating in the large pot on the creaky wood stove.

"Uh, me too." Doy added.

"Suit yourself." The woman shrugged, placing one hand on her hip as she stirred with the other. "I don't care much one way or the other."

Kitty rolled her eyes and looked around the large rectangular main room of the stage stop. She was surprised to see how neat and tidy it was, at least most of it. The seating area on the east wall was dominated by a massive stone fireplace which was flanked on either side by comfortable looking chairs. A coffee table sat in front of it and a long coach faced it, separating the seating area from the dining area. The dining area consisted of a long plank table with six chairs placed around it with a sideboard on the north wall.

To the west of the dining space was the kitchen area. It was there that the neatness of the room ended and the awfulness began. A small table, sitting in front of the stove was covered in dirty dishes, food and other things. The stove held the pot, the woman was currently stirring, and a large coffee pot. The floor had spilled food on it as well as what looked like mud. To Kitty, it looked like a shack and a nice home had somehow been horribly mashed together in some way.

Kitty took a seat at the table just as a young girl came in from the back of the house, carrying a large, heavy looking bucket of water. The child, wearing a plain smock dress, looked no older than 10 or 11 and not as big as the bucket she was lugging in.

"Here, Youngin'." Doy quickly rose and took the bucket from the blonde headed girl who repaid him with a smile and a soft, "Thank you."

"You leave her be." The woman demanded. "She ain't no cripple. Little hard work won't hurt her."

"Maybe so, Ma'am." Doy answered as he sat the bucket near the stove. "But I was raised that a woman, or a girl, ain't to be lifting heavy things when there's a man around."

"Un huh." The woman glared at the child who visibly shrank back from her gaze.

"She certainly is a pretty girl." Kitty remarked, hoping to rescue the situation and relieve the tension between Doy and the hag at the stove.

"Pretty is as pretty does." The woman snorted. "It don't get things done around here, though. Work does. And she don't do enough of that to suit me."

"She does her share and yours too, Zona." Handy spoke up from the doorway. He looked over at his guests. "LeighAnn's a good girl." He proclaimed as he smiled gently at his daughter. "Zona ain't her real ma so she's harder on the girl than she oughta be."

Kitty and Doy nodded but didn't reply. Zona, glared at all of them but kept her silence. LeighAnn moved over to the fireplace and sat down in the one of the chairs, apparently trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Handy, I need some help out here." Ethan called from the doorway. "You too, gents." He nodded at Doy and the other man.

"I paid for a ride to Dodge." The dude answered defiantly. "I'm no hired hand."

"Maybe not." Ethan shrugged. "But if you don't help, you could be walking to Dodge instead of riding in a stage."

A look of pure vexation crossed the dude's face but reluctantly, he rose and followed the men from the house.

Kitty got up from the table and moved over to LeighAnn's side. "My name's Kitty." She told the girl. "Your pa called you, LeighAnn?"

"Uh huh." The little girl answered shyly. "I'm ten."

"Oh." Kitty looked around the large room, spotting several books on a nearby shelf. "That's a lot of books. Have you read them?"

LeighAnn nodded. "Yes, Ma'am, some of em. I like to read when I can."

"That's about all she does like to do." Zona interjected from the dining table.

"That's not true." LeighAnn whispered. "I clean the house too. Exceptin' the kitchen. She won't let me in there."

Kitty scowled at the girl's stepmother and then looked back at LeighAnn who spotted the broach Kitty was wearing. "Like it?" Kitty asked.

LeighAnn nodded enthusiastically. "It's real pretty. Prettiest thing I ever saw. I bet it's worth a whole lot of money."

"No." Kitty shook her head. "Actually, it's not worth anything. It's only value lies in sentiment. It was my mother's cameo."

"Oh." LeighAnn wasn't sure what Kitty meant by that but didn't care as she reached up and lightly traced the surface of the pin.

Suddenly, Zona appeared at their side and reached out, slapping the child's hand away from Kitty and her jewelry. "Keep your hands to your self." She snapped.

Instantly, Kitty rose and placed herself between Zona and the girl. "You leave her alone. She wasn't hurting anything. She was just admiring my broach."

"Yeah," Zona sniffed, "and probably trying to figure out how to steal it later, the little sneak thief."

"You can't steal something that belongs to you." Kitty said as she impulsively pulled the broach from her blouse and placed it into the little girl's hand.

Zona's eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed again in suspicion. "Why'd you do that? You don't know her. She's nothing to you." Reaching around Kitty, Zona tried to snatch the jewelry from LeighAnn's hand but the child held it away from her. "Give that to me, you little brat."

"No!" Kitty practically growled. "I gave it to her, not you. And I intend for her to keep it."

"She's my kid, ain't she?" Zona whined.

"You've been treating her more like a dog than a daughter." Kitty remarked with an arched brow.

"What's going on here?" Handy had come back in, hearing the commotion as he did so. "What's this about?"

"I gave your daughter a broach and your wife was trying to steal it from her." Kitty answered, never taking her eyes off of the awful woman in front of her.

"I wasn't neither." Zona protested. "I just wanted to see it. Besides, what call does this trollop have to give that kid nothing?"

"Why you…" Kitty raised a hand but quickly Handy stepped in between them.

"Zona, get back to your cookin'." Handy demanded. "NOW!"

Zona stiffened at her husband's tone but did as he'd ordered, giving Kitty a withering glare as she did so.

"Sorry, Ma'am." Handy apologized. "She had no right to call you names. But you hadn't ought to have given LeighAnn that there pin. It's too much."

"No, it's not." Kitty answered. "It's not really worth too much and I really would like her to have it. Believe me. That is, if it's alright with you."

"Well." Handy took a deep breath. "Alright then, if you're sure. And thank you. LeighAnn, you say thank you?"

"She did." Kitty assured him as she glanced back at the girl with a smirk and a wink.

Handy nodded. "Alright then. LeighAnn you go on to the table and get your supper. Then go on to bed. Okay?"

"I'm not really all that hungry, Pa." LeighAnn's voice took on a pleading tone. "Can I just go on to bed now?"

"You really need to eat, girl." Handy answered. "You didn't hardly eat nothing for breakfast or dinner. You missing out on supper ain't too good an idea."

"Uh," Kitty spoke up. "I know your wife made some stew, but would you have some bread and maybe some butter?" She asked. "Like LeighAnn, here, I'm not too hungry but I bet some bread and butter would serve us both."

"Sure." Handy nodded. "You two sit down at the table. I'll get it."

Ignoring his wife, Handy went about the task of cutting off a few slices of bread and gathering the butter while Kitty and LeighAnn seated their selves at the table. A couple of moment's later, Handy returned with a plate of bread, butter and a couple slices of ham. "Figure a little meat wouldn't hurt nothing." He smiled.

"Thank you." Kitty replied as she took a slice of the bread. "I think the bread and butter will be fine for me. LeighAnn, why don't you go ahead and eat the ham."

As the child devoured the food, Kitty hazarded a glance at Zona, noticing her rigid posture and angry stance. Just because the woman was saying nothing, it didn't mean this was over. Kitty had an idea that sooner or later, the hag in the kitchen would find a way to get back at the little girl and her husband both. But she doubted she'd be around to see it or stop it.

As soon as LeighAnn polished off her food, she rose from the table, kissed her father on the cheek and ran around the table to Kitty, giving her a quick hug. "Thank you, again." She whispered as she scampered up the stairs with her prize broach.

After his daughter left, Handy got back to his feet and started for the door. "I best get back out there and see if I can help get that wheel taken care of." He nodded at Kitty, glanced wearily at his wife and left.

Kitty ignored her surly hostess and got up, moving over to the bookshelf by the fireplace and reading the titles. If she was going to have to stay there for a while, she wanted something to do other than stare at the hateful woman of the house. Finding a tome that looked inviting, Kitty sat down on the couch, opened the cover and began to read. She didn't see Zona slip out of the main room and scurry up the stairs.

But a few minutes later, Kitty heard LeighAnn suddenly yell and what sounded like crying. Quickly, glancing around, and not seeing Zona, Kitty dropped her book and rushed up the stairs. She didn't pause to think of her position as a stranger in the house. She only thought of the small girl that sounded as though she needed help.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Kitty noted a door standing open at the end of the hall and ran in that direction. Looking inside, she saw LeighAnn crouched in a corner, whimpering. Zona stood over her, one hand raised with a belt in it poised to hit the child.

"Get away from her!" Kitty demanded.

"She's trying to steal my broach." LeighAnn cried plaintively. "And I'm not going to let her have it."

"I'm not stealing anything." Zona snapped. "But it wouldn't matter if I did. This is my house. You get out of here. This is none of your business."

"I'm making it my business." Kitty said as she moved in between LeighAnn and her stepmother, angrily pushing the woman back and towards the door. "Now I said to go. You're not going to hit her again."

"This is my house." Zona protested as she prepared to use the belt on Kitty instead of her stepdaughter. "I can do what I want to that sniveling brat. And you have no say in it."

"I do." A quiet yet fearsome voice spoke up behind Zona who dropped her hand and whirled around to find Handy glowering at her. "And you are not touching my daughter again."

LeighAnn perked up when she saw her father and heard his words. "Pa, she hit me."

"I don't doubt that, sweetheart." He never took his eyes off the pale, frightened face of his wife. "But she won't do it again." As LeighAnn got to her feet, Handy grabbed his wife's arm. "I've said nothing for a while now, hopin' you'd learn to love my little girl as much as I do. But since you came here four months ago, you've done nothing but belittle her and hit her anytime I wasn't around. You've made her work like a slave and made us both eat that slop you call food." With each word from Handy, Zona seemed to shrink just a little more.

"I should've sent you packin' before now." Handy continued. "But I… I loved you, Zona and I thought you loved me. Guess I was wrong about you. Maybe about me too." He backed away from the now trembling woman. "The stage heading west just came in. You got just enough time to get a bag packed and get on it before it pulls out again. You miss that stage and you'll walk out of here. You hear me?"

Zona swallowed hard. "Han… Handy, I… look, honey, I…"

"You'd better hurry, Zona." Handy hardened his tone and expression. "You're going to leave here today, either by stage or walking. You decide."

Zona stiffened her shoulders, turned a withering glare in Kitty and LeighAnn's direction then did as her soon to be ex-husband demanded. "You'll regret letting me go like this." She said as she exited the room.

"Maybe so." Handy answered. "But I doubt it." Handy watched Zona walk away and then looked back over at Kitty and his daughter. "Thank you for protecting my little girl." He told Kitty. "I'm sorry you had to see all this. If I hadn't been such a lovesick fool, I wouldn't have never brought her here and this wouldn't have never happened. Guess I learned my lesson. Having someone to love ain't worth the heartache that comes with it."

"Oh, I don't know about that." Kitty smiled gently at the man. "I think it is, if you find the right someone to love, that is."

"Maybe so." Handy shrugged. "Maybe so."

A couple of hours later, Ethan came back into the house and declared the stage wheel fixed and the eastbound stage ready to roll. The westbound stage had taken off with one new passenger named Zona and left one behind who would now be headed east to Dodge. As Kitty prepared to leave, she felt small arms wrap around her legs.

"Thank you again, Miss Kitty." LeighAnn smiled up at her. "For the broach as well as…"

"You're welcome." Kitty leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. She looked at Handy, seeing the pain in his face. He may not regret sending Zona packing, but it didn't change the hurt he felt at her loss. "Mr. Handy." Kitty stepped over to him. "I know it hurt to send your wife away, but I don't think you should give up on love. It's not easy to find and it's not always easy to keep, but if it's the right one, it'll be worth it."

"You sound like you know that for a fact, young lady." Handy looked a little doubtfully at her. "But you don't look old enough to have had that kind of love."

"I haven't." Kitty smiled. "But I have a feeling I'll know it when I see it. And you will too."

"Time to get on board, Miss." Ethan called to her.

"I'm coming." Kitty answered as she quickly moved to get on board. "Bye." She waved at LeighAnn and her father after taking her seat inside and smiled happily to see the father pull his daughter to him as they drove out of sight.

Leaning back in her seat, Kitty wearily closed her eyes for a moment, unconcerned with her fellow passengers or what they might do. She'd meant what she'd told Handy. But she doubted she'd find it herself. That kind of love was rare. Too rare. She thought she'd found it with Cole but she knew now it hadn't been. But who knew. Dodge was another town and another chance. And you never knew what could happen.

End


End file.
